Mr. James Cogan:

That is an interesting example. As far as I know, it did not then happen. Perhaps the injustice happened initially in terms of the reuse or repurposing of the land. However, I am not aware of any of the fuel then coming in. Right now, Italy is the biggest and most ambitious processor of palm diesel, and it is busy adding more capacity to its palm diesel processing. Every time I turn on the radio in Italy, where I spent a lot of my time, I hear the advertisements. It is marketing it to consumers as a green way of getting from A to B. That is because the legislation allows it. In both instances - the African and Asian palm oil - I cannot be more categorical. We are absolutely against it and is an atrocious way of abusing the basic principles of climate legislation to do something that nobody wanted, because it is worse than the illness we are trying to cure. I would much prefer if we were to carry on using fossil fuel than to use palm oil diesel or something imported from Africa if it were to be done in a socially unjust way.

Mr. James Cogan: That is an interesting example. As far as I know, it did not then happen. Perhaps the injustice happened initially in terms of the re-use or re-purposing of the land but I am not aware of any of the fuel then coming in. However, right now Italy is the single biggest and most ambitious processor of palm diesel and it is busy adding more capacity to its palm diesel processing. Every time I turn on the radio in Italy, where I spend a lot of my time, I hear the advertisements, and it is being manufactured to consumers as a green way of getting from A to B. That is because the legislation allows it. On both instances - the African and Asian palm oil - I cannot be more categorical: We are absolutely against it. It is an atrocious way of abusing the basic principles of climate legislation, which is to do something that nobody wanted, as it is worse than the illness we are trying to cure. I would much prefer if we carried on using fossil fuel than use palm oil diesel or something imported from Africa if it were to be done in a socially unjust way.

The thrust of our argument is that the legislation should be capable of blocking the palm oil diesel and those things that do not actually do any good. It is not a difficult thing to do. If we could simply get that through, we would be able to carry on helpfully and happily developing the sector within Europe based on European-produced crops of European producers being consumed here. We would ring-fence the whole market, which is good for everybody, and provide more demand for all those tillage farmers who are suffering. That is not just an Irish thing. It is happening throughout the Union. We would very much echo, therefore, the Senator's sentiments on it, as would the industry as a whole.

To answer Deputy Fitzmaurice on whether Ireland could produce the sunflower seed needed for biodiesel, I am not sure that sunflower is an optimal crop for Ireland. However, Ireland can produce rape, wheat and beet, and they are ideal crops for producing fuel for cars. I would always stress that it would be done in parallel with other products in order that it would not be entirely biofuel-based and we would be getting materials and food out of it as well.

Deputy Kenny mentioned marginal land use. It is not a black-and-white issue where there is marginal land and non-marginal land that can be either used or not used. Land becomes marginal as it falls out of use and is no longer managed. The longer it is out of use, the less likely it will come back into use. The production of European biofuels reduces the tendency for land to drift out of use and into redundancy. Typically, European biofuels are certified and are monitored for being produced in ways that do not eat into existing agricultural production. They should be produced from land that is at risk of drifting into redundancy and from yield growth. That was the principle behind it, and it has also been the practice. We have had ten years of monitoring reasonably large scales and growth in some areas, and the practice has been as good as the principle. Where the practice is not good is where it involves imports.